"'And it was good in the people's eyes, for they were dull of
understanding, and they diligently brought water unto the tank for many
days, and for every bucket which they did bring the capitalists gave them
every man a penny; but for every bucket that the capitalists drew forth
from the tank to give again unto the people, behold! the people rendered
to the capitalists two pennies.
"'And after many days the water tank, which was the Market, overflowed at
the top, seeing that for every bucket the people poured in they received
only so much as would buy again half of a bucket. And because of the
excess that was left of every bucket, did the tank overflow, for the
people were many, but the capitalists were few, and could drink no more
than others. Therefore did the tank overflow.
"'And when the capitalists saw that the water overflowed, they said to
the people:
"'"See ye not the tank, which is the Market, doth overflow? Sit ye down,
therefore and be patient, for ye shall bring us no more water till the
tank be empty."
"'But when the people no more received the pennies of the capitalists for
the water they brought, they could buy no more water from the
capitalists, having naught wherewith to buy. And when the capitalists saw
that they had no more profit because no man bought water of them, they
were troubled. And they sent forth men in the highways, the byways, and
the hedges, crying, "If any thirst let him come to the tank and buy water
of us, for it doth overflow." For they said among themselves, "Behold,
the times are dull; we must advertise."
"'But the people answered, saying: "How can we buy unless ye hire us, for
how else shall we have wherewithal to buy? Hire ye us, therefore, as
before, and we will gladly buy water, for we thirst, and ye will have no
need to advertise." But the capitalists said to the people: "Shall we
hire you to bring water when the tank, which is the Market, doth already
overflow? Buy ye, therefore, first water, and when the tank is empty,
through your buying, will we hire you again." And so it was because the
capitalists hired them no more to bring water that the people could not
buy the water they had brought already, and because the people could not
buy the water they had brought already, the capitalists no more hired
them to bring water. And the saying went abroad, "It is a crisis."
"'And the thirst of the people was great, for it was not now as it had
been in the days of their fathers, when the land was open before them,
for every one to seek water for himself, seeing that the capitalists had
taken all the springs, and the wells, and the water wheels, and the
vessels and the buckets, so that no man might come by water save from the
tank, which was the Market. And the people murmured against the
capitalists and said: "Behold, the tank runneth over, and we die of
thirst. Give us, therefore, of the water, that we perish not."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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